


Haunted Flask

by TwinVax



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Dark, Episode 26 spoilers, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Molly doesnt have a good time, hes kinda dead, lingering soul idea, molly haunts them, this is a bit creepy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-06-11 06:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15309102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwinVax/pseuds/TwinVax
Summary: Molly's essence attaches itself to a flask.





	1. Chapter 1

The last thing any of the remaining members of the Mighty Nein expects, along with Keg, is for Mollymauk to suddenly pop into existence right in front of them as soon as they finish taking anything useful from his body. 

They especially don’t expect him to be transparent, standing right beside his won body. 

The clearing is filled with Nott’s screams and the sound of a crossbow firing before anyone can calm down and figure out what it means. The bolt sailed harmlessly through Molly’s ghost. 

No one knows what it means, or how Molly has come back this way, but they are happy to see him…relatively well. 

Molly never mentions that he has attached his soul to Nott’s flask in his quick attempt to stay on the plane. The only thing he is aware of that none of them would ever willingly leave behind, besides Beau’s staff or book under Caleb’s arm that he knew was used for bolt target practice. 

Hard pass on that. 

The flask is better, though he can always feel whenever it’s being drunk out of. It’s a strange sensation. and one that makes him feel uncomfortable when he feels it somehow refill itself within the blink of a moment. 

It was the better option, either way. She won’t ever get rid of that flask. He understands how much it means to her, so he knows she won’t ever feel the need to trade for something else.

She won’t ever let him get abandoned like any of the other things he could have attached to might have the danger of. He just has to make sure she doesn’t know it’s technically haunted. 

 

 


	2. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated for awhile after writing the first chapter if I should continue it as something funny and crack story like. After learning about how Molly would feel on this, I changed my approach. 
> 
> I probably won't write many chapters, but I wanted to write this next part out. Take care of yourselves, this chapter is less nice then the first, dealing with Molly being dead and hating it. Feel free to tell me what you think.

It took about an hour of being back for Molly to regret his choice to linger and attach himself to Nott’s flask. Not because of anything related to her, of course, even with how he could feel the magic work on it and fill it as quick as she drinks from it. 

It’s disconcerting, and he doesn’t really like it, but at least he can  _feel_ something. He hates it so much, not being able to feel things or touch his friends to try and comfort them. He’s back, but they still mourn him, because he isn’t completely normal. His body is still dead and in the ground, this time for good, and he’s still around. 

He can’t feel, he can’t touch, he can’t eat or drink or do anything he used to wake up and be excited to do! He can talk and maybe find a way to attack people this way, given time, but nothing else. 

With his luck, he isn’t even sure if somehow getting his soul out of the flask will get him out of this mess.

It’s  _torture_. He can’t  _stand_  it. 

He watches Beau, face somber, wearing his coat as she walks clutching her staff. He’s glad she took it when he asked, because at least he could give a small bit of comfort. If not with a hug then at least with his favorite coat. 

Caleb looking pained, withdrawn and quiet, scratching Frumpkin’s head and holding one of Nott’s hands so she doesn’t drip over her own feet onto her ass or face. 

He’s closest to Nott, stuck to her flask. She’s more distressed then she usually is, near black out drunk from all the booze she’s had since he appeared. The constant magical refilling of the magic driving him fucking mad. 

Keg glances at him every once and awhile, pity and guilt in her eyes. He doesn’t blame her for this, he had done what he did on his own. It had been worth it, it had saved Beau from dying unnecessarily at the same mans hand. 

It isn’t Kegs fault that she had bad Intel. Molly knew things changed, especially when you leave behind the past. Comforting her won’t do anything though. 

Everything had gone wrong, and now they all had paid for it. Molly’s return driving it home worse.

It’s the worst Molly has ever felt in his life. 


	3. Chapter 3

Molly is severely limited in what he can do, after the group meets Caduceus. The cleric doesn't like undead things like him, and already cast both Turn Undead and tried to exorcise him. It had hurt a fucking lot. 

It's worse then it had been when he first woke up, attached to Nott's damn flask. He can't travel away from it, or talk to anyone while around the firbolg, or he'll try to get rid of him like he's some sort of legitimate issue. Like he'd try to hurt anyone just because he's a ghost. So he's stuck basically wrapped around Nott's flask, dealing with feeling everything that happens to it and sometimes feeling like he's almost being poked by her claws when she holds it to hard. 

Of course, she doesn't really appreciate him appearing and moving around when Caduceus isn't around while she's in her and Caleb's room. Molly understands that, but does it anyway. He has to move, he has to be able to pretend he can still exist in the world, or he'll probably go crazy. 

He can't touch anyone, eat anything, or feel shit besides his own emotion, he needs to be able to have this, now that he's traveling with a cleric who hates him. 

Though, if Caduceus could detach him from the flask, and make it so he actually died for real instead of this bullshit, he'd probably welcome it. He just has to be around him longer then the seconds it takes Caduceus to cast Turn Undead to ask him for that. 

He'll need to plan something for that, he supposed.  


	4. Chapter 4

Molly waits until he's alone with Nott, when everyone else is going about Felderwin to help set up and talk to whoever they can find for information, before he appears outside the flask where it was left on the wagon floor. She doesn't react to him looking at her, continuing to pace in the wagon and not even attempt to take a drink after whatever Caduceus did, so he just watches and thinks. 

He was basically useless during Fjords whole thing, and had done something close enough to hibernation, to the point he only came out when Nott and Jester were hiesting the boat and for the battle that ended with the Plank King sending them away. The sailors on the boat had a weird superstition, something about a dead mollymauk bird or something, and had almost quit immediately when they'd met and gotten his name. He hasn't had a lot of fun, even if he'd wanted to, when it came to Fjord and Avantica. 

He could do something here though. Probably. He remembered what she'd said about his past when they'd forced him to talk about himself, and put that in the context of what she'd talked about with herself. Made him feel a bit bad about threatening to eat her, honestly, but he'd been mad. 

"That's why you told me you'd help figure out my past if I wanted to, isn't it? Because of this stuff?" he said, waving a hand in a general direction at the town, slightly awkward as his hand passed through the wood of the cart. 

Nott froze in her step, didn't look at him, but nodded, "I don't want to forget and move on, that's stupid and as you said once, _naive and_   _frightfully ignorant_. I don't care if you fucking ate goblins before, but you could be forgetting people who loved you." she turned around, eyes tearing as she glared, "So if you're going to tell me to give up and be happy with this, to move on, save it. I love them both and I refuse to forget them. No matter how long it takes." she promised, before the disguise of a dwarf overtook her features and she jumped out of the cart, leaving the flask in the cart and him with it, as he stuck his head through the wood to watch her join the others as they walked closer. 

He stayed in the cart, not wanting Caduceus to see him and cast another spell at him, listening to them make their next horrible decision of a move. 

Once again, he wished he could have a fucking drink. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't have much ideas for anything related to the pirate stuff, but I wanted them to talk a little bit about that time they talked in the inn room about their personal ideas of pasts.


End file.
